


infinitesimal

by dead_on_the_inside



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Author Projecting onto Kanaya Maryam, Author Projecting onto Karkat Vantas, Falling In Love, Fluff, I Wrote This While Listening to Mother Mother, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Pesterlog(s) (Homestuck), Punk Karkat Vantas, Trans Karkat Vantas, Trans Male Karkat Vantas, and she makes it herself, but its brief, featuring: karkat complaining about his binder because i was feeling it when i wrote this, i project onto all of them, i spent way to long formatting this, just a couple things dave thinks, kanaya wears period clothing, me furthering the punk karkat agenda, so its accurate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:33:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29882571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dead_on_the_inside/pseuds/dead_on_the_inside
Summary: Dave and Karkat starting to date, falling in love, etc
Relationships: Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	infinitesimal

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by this: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/638244578442322127/  
> because i spent to long scrolling through pinterest and then my internet cut out and i had nothing to do but write all this garbage

Your name is Dave Strider and you think you want to murder whoever signed you up for a 7am class. Then again, you suppose that would be _you_ and you did _not_ spend your teenage years avoiding swords just to die now. Besides, this was a required art-history class, and all the other times were already filled when you went to sign up for classes this semester. Rose would be getting on you if you told her (which you had expertly avoided, if you do say so yourself) probably going on about how you still don’t have your shit together after almost 2½ years of this whole college thing. Honestly you still weren’t really sold on the idea. Might wanna go back to the drawing board, dude who invented college. Whoever he was, you hope he’s rotting in hell, because this is straight up torure. You have to wake up at six in the fucking morning to get your stuff together and get to class on time, and you think you might actually march down to hell yourself like it’s fucking _Dante’s Inferno_ or some shit to torture that guy more, because he fucking deserves it.

But it’s whatever because the dude you sit next to in the lecture hall is fucking hilarious. And maybe the tiniest bit hot. Just a little. But mostly, _fucking hilarious_. You don’t even know how you ended up sitting next to him, but after the first day it just sort of… stuck. Like, both of you always end up at the same desk, the one just a row off from being in the back corner. On the first day, he showed up with black coffee from some random cafe somewhere and a thing of monster energy, looked you dead in the eyes and said “I am going to die” and poured the monster into the coffee before downing it in one swig. You think you may have fallen the tiniest bit in love with him at that moment, but that’s not what we’re talking about right now.

Today, he’s there before you, like he almost always is. He’s got some of his shit pushed out over your side of the desk and is arguing with someone about how it’s his friend’s seat. That makes you weirdly happy because _holy shit he considers you his friend_ which seems so amazing. Then again you guess that you have sat in the same seat for half a semester and it would be an asshole move to let some rando take your seat. Either way when he sees you he waves you over to the seat and you gratefully take it.

“Thanks man,” You say, stretching out in the seat and glancing at the clock. Karkat (did you mention that his name is Karkat? Seriously, no one should be allowed to have a name that cool.) grabs his notebook and pencil case (matching bright red like the kind you get at _Walmart_ for $1.95 in the third grade. Not only that, but both of them, as well as the old laptop he has are covered in stickers, old and new).

“No problem, Douchface,” Another thing about the dude: constant swearing. All the fucking time. Doesn’t matter who you are, what you’re doing, where you are. He’s always cursing. Today (as well as almost every other day ever) he’s has on a t-shirt from some band you’ve never heard of with a logo that you can barely read, a black, un-zipped jacket, a red flannel and black jeans that are covered to all hell and back with patches , safety pins, and little silver metal stubs. He has on a pair of _Doc Martens_ , one with yellow laces and one with purple, both ladder-laced, which, according to Rose, means anti-racist and LGBTQ+ ( “So you told me about that whole ‘lace-code’ thing, but what does it mean if someone has yellow and purple again?” “Dave, we’ve gone over this thirty-seven times”), so, in other words, he seems fucking awesome. 

Either way, class is as boring as ever though, even with you being able to hear him cussing out the professor under his breath. And then the end of class rolls around.

“So…. I… was wondering if you would be up for grabbing coffee with me sometime?” you ask it as he’s grabbing his notebook, silently freaking out a little.

“Sure, I’d be up for that, but I’d better get a free cinnamon bun,” He says it with an almost amused look on his face, but he’s also got a blush curling over his cheeks.

“Sure dude, wanna meet at that place a couple blocks from here? My sister works there and I’m pretty sure I can con her into getting me a couple free pastries,”

“The one that’s called ‘Jumpstart café’?”

“Yeah, that one,”

“Sure, how about Saturday? Does 10:00am work for you?”

“Totally man, see you there,” And with that, both of you go your separate ways down the hallway. God fucking damnit.

turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering tentacleTherapist [TT]  


TG: so i think we have a problem  
TT: Really? Would this have to do with the boy that you definitely don’t have a crush on?  
TG: it might have to do with the fact that i just asked him for coffee  
TG: also i need some free cinnamon buns on saturday  
TT: Why do you have a problem if he, presumably, said yes?  
TT: I don’t see how that’s a bad thing in this case.  
TG: yeah he said yes but i dont even know if this actually counts as a date or if its just a friend thing  
TG: like it could just be that were talking friendly stuff over coffee like normal people  
TG: or i could be overthinking this  
TG: damn i really sound like a fucking teenage girl dont i  
TG: no offense  
TT: None taken  
TT: However  
TG: fuck  
TT: My advice is to just be as least awkward as possible and let him make the first move if you’re this worried  
TT: Also Kanaya is making some of her tea, come over and calm down  
TG: oh right i forgot you have a crush too  
TG: hows that going for you, sis  
TT: It’s going just fine, now come on, the tea is going to get cold if you dawdle.  
TG: damn ok ill hurry up  


turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering tentacleTherapist [TT]  


So, you end up heading over to the cafe where Rose works, ignoring the pit of anxiety in your stomach. When you show up after the short walk, Kanaya waves you in with a smile on her face and a cup of tea in her hand. Her older sister owns this place, but since she’s usually working at their mom’s restaurant (which is across the street) Kanaya’s the de-facto manager. She has on a dress that probably belongs in 19th century england, smooth fabrics that compliment each other. It’s in her signature jade-green color, with black cuffs and accents. Her hair is pinned up around her head in what you have to assume is probably a period-accurate hairstyle, even though you really don’t know. She makes the best tea you’ve ever tasted, and she spends a lot of time on her tea blends to get them perfect. You and Rose usually end up being the test subjects

The tea is calming, warm and herbal, and you’re reminded why you love this place despite the shitty name and overcomplicated menu. Rose peaks her head over from where she was cleaning the tables and grins at you.

“So, when is your date, exactly?” You sigh, and Kanaya has an amused, knowing smile on her face.

“Saturday. At 10:00. And I told you, I don’t even know if it counts as a date or not”

When Saturday rolls around you’re sitting in the seat that’s near the back, pretty easy to see, but still a bit out of the way- exactly the kind of seat Karkat would sit in. You hope. When he shows up it’s about two minutes before ten (not that you were counting). He sees you pretty quickly and smiles, walking over. One of the piercings on the side of his mouth (you think they’re called snake bites) catches on one his teeth and he glances down at it a little cross-eyed, glaring again while tugs it away from the little gap it had caught on. You should probably not be staring at his mouth as much as you are, but god help your dumb ass you think that he has a tongue piercing.

You are so screwed.

“Hi,” he says it simply, sitting down across from you.

“Sup, how are you?” 

“Doing alright, I have a ridiculous amount of essays to write though, I swear they’re trying to bury us in that shit,”

“Yeah, same, I think my printer is dying from all the shit I’ve had to print and proofread,” You lean back in the booth.

“Yeah, it sucks. So, what do you wanna get for coffee?” You stand up, trying your hardest to be chill about it. You catch Karkat with a smirk that means you probably failed, but it’s fine because that smirk gave you a heart attack anyways. You have it bad.

“I dunno, let’s go see,” Walking up to the counter where Rose is attempting to flirt with Kanaya, you wave at the menu.

“As long as you don’t burn through my wallet, get whatever, I have a rewards card anyways”

“Don’t be fooled, Dave tried to sell fake _Pokémon_ cards on the side of the street for all of middle school. Don’t be charmed- he’s a fucking nerd,” Rose feels the need to jump in. Karkat lets out a breathy laugh while you do your best to fight down a blush because _seriously???_ you try to gesture at her wildly.

“AND??? You helped! We were like the fucking best salesmen at our schools! Of course, only my business lives on, yours didn’t work nearly as well, if I remember correctly.” Kanaya peaks her head around the corner and then smiles brightly.

“Karkat! Hi! It’s been too long! We should catch up sometime!”

“Oh hi Kanaya, yeah, we should, sorry, I got a new phone and my old one bricked up,” Ok, they know each other, great.

“Cool, well, uuuhhhh… can I get a medium caramel macchiato?” you know it’s kind of an asshole move, but this is _your_ possibly-date with Karkat.

It ends up being a thing for you and Karkat to hang out at the cafe at some point in the week. Rose ends up beating you to getting a date once she starts going out with Kanaya.

One Wednesday, you finally ask it.

“So….. Do you wanna go out sometime? Like actually go out? Like on a date, I mean?” Karkat’s gone fully red by the end of it, staring at his backpack with his jaw dropped a little ways. He stays like that for a moment, just long enough for you to start to wonder if you said something wrong. He could just say no if he didn’t want to right?

“It’s fine if you don’t wan-”

“No no no, I would love to, dumbass!” he practically tackles you with a hug, laughing a little. When he pulls away he has a smile that you only see when he’s absolutely ecstatic. You think that’s your favorite smile in the world.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling turntechGodhead [TG]  


CG: I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD THIS BINDER IS SO FUCKING *ANNOYING*  
CG: LIKE WHAT THE FUCK  
CG: THIS SHIT SO FUCKING AWFUL  
TG: maybe you should i dont know just a suggestion here  
TG: take it off when youre moving furniture?  
TG: seems like a good idea man  
TG: dont want you fainting from breath loss like some old victorian lady in a corset  
CG: I'M PRETTY FUCKING SURE KANAYA WEARS CORSETS *ALL THE FUCKING TIME* AND SHE SEEMS JUST FUCKING FINE, ASSHOLE  
CG: BESIDES, JUST BECAUSE IT'S DIGGING INTO MY SIDES WHILE I MOVE THIS TABLE DOESNT MEAN I'M GOING TO TAKE IT OFF AND LET MY TITS MEET THE WORLD  
CG: "HI EVERYONE, WE'RE KARKAT'S BOOBS, ALL SQUISHED UP AND AWKWARD FROM BEING SMASHED AGAINST HIS CHEST ALL OUR LIVES"  
CG: NOT FUCKING HAPPENING, DICKLICKER  
TG: you wound me dearest  
TG: your tits are amazing  
TG: im telling you loverboy take it off  
TG: youve already been wearing it almost all day and youve been moving furniture at the same time  
TG: seriously, karkat, i care about you, and i like being able to hug you so tight you cant breath  
TG: because thats my job, not your binders  
CG: SHUT YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH, ASSHOLE  
CG: BESIDES, WE ALREADY FINISHED MOVING EVERYTHING  
CG: I'M ALREADY ON MY WASY HOME  
TG: wait really  
TG: shit can you postpone a few minutes  
CG: WHY??  
TG: you did look at the date right  
CG: OH SHIT  
TG: yeah now slow down im not done yet  
CG: OK OK  


carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling turntechGodhead [TG]  


Naturally, Mr. rom-com was the one to forget your anniversary. Of fucking course. You let yourself smile at the phone, grabbing everything you need as you run down from your apartment, leaving a note on the table in your absence. Need this perfect right? You run down to the cafe next, giving Rose the next note and telling her to give it to Karkat when he gets there. After that you sprint up to Karkat’s favorite skatepark, slapping the note down on the highest limb of the tree where you and him had sat when you’d decided to move in together. As two college students, that was a pretty good fucking idea.

Finally, panting and tired, you set up the romantic picnic sat on top of a hill in the forest. The sun is just starting on its way down, shedding light onto the ground. He should get here just as the sun has almost disappeared beyond the horizon.

turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
TG: ok go ahead its set up now  
CG: DAVE WHERE ARE YOU  
TG:   
CG: WAIT WHAT'S THE NOTE?  
turntechGodhead [TG] is now an idle chum!  
CG: WHATEVER, ASSHOLE  
CG: I'LL FOLLOW YOUR DUMBASS CLUES  
CG:...  
CG: I LOVE YOU SO MUCH  
CG: I HOPE YOU KNOW THAT  
CG: <3  


Karkat does, in fact, show up when you thought he would. He’s breathing quickly as he sits down across from you, but he’s grinning widely. God you love this boy so much. You spend what has to be an hour or two talking and laughing and stargazing once the night sky lights up the earth.

And then, you pop the question, kissing him quietly.

You pull out the smooth, simple, carved metal ring. There’s a little red jewel that's attached to it, the metal is smooth and it curls around itself in an almost flame-like pattern. It’s so _Karkat_ in so many ways you had to get it. He starts crying when you pull it out. 

“Yes! God I love you so much! You fucking romantic asshole!”

Naturally, you kiss him.


End file.
